Hanging is one of the most common methods of suicide in India in which death of the individual occurs almost immediately. However, a few cases have been reported in literature in which death has occurred after a certain period of time or the patient has survived after prolonged resuscitative measures. Here we present three cases of delayed deaths due to suicidal hanging in which the victims survived for variable time duration after they were rescued from hanging.

As a part of wildlife crime investigation, two pieces of Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) ivory were collected by Uttarakhand forest department at different time interval to identify whether they belonged to same individual. The samples were analyzed using multilocus genotype based genetic analysis. Twelve fluorescent labeled microsatellite loci were used to analyze the nuclear DNA that were developed and validated for Asian elephants. Based on DNA typing, both the samples showed same alleles at every tested locus indicating that both the ivory pieces originated from single individual. The study highlights successful extraction and analysis of nuclear DNA employing microsatellite markers from ivory collected from Asian elephant.

Now a days crimes relating to firearms and ammunition have dramatically increased in northern part of India. It has been observed that Country made pistols of 8mm/.315” bore; Improvised pistols of 7.65mm/9mm calibre, .32”/.38” calibre are randomly used by criminals in Delhi and NCR regions. On the basis of crime cases received in the Forensic Science Laboratory for examination, the smooth bore illegal country made firearms chambered for pistol, revolver and rifle cartridges are very often encountered in criminal cases all over India and other developing countries. The possibility of identifying types of smooth bore firearms of country made and improvised pistols has been studied. On analysis of crime cases received for forensic examination, it has been found that 75% crimes are committing by 8mm/.315” calibre by country made pistols, 20% by 7.65mm calibre/bore improvised pistols and remaining 5% crime by other firearms like 12 bore country made pistol, .32”/.38” calibre/bore improvised pistols. In present study, firearms details relating to length of barrel, total length of firearms, internal diameter of barrel at muzzle end and breech end have been studied in view of forensic significance and may be useful for Forensic scientists, Law Enforcement Agencies, Police Officers and Judicial Officers etc.

Finger ridge density (RD) is the number of finger ridges that touch the diagonal line drawn between a square of 25 mm2 which is placed on the core of the fingerprint image. It has been useful as a sex determination aid in forensic practice as its values are significantly higher in females than males. The present study was aimed at investigating the RD of Thai adolescents aged between 10 and 12 years old. Subjects were 130 schoolboys and 130 schoolgirls were randomly selected and signed informed consent forms prior to printing each individual’s ten fingers by using the adhesive transparent tape technique. The Microsoft Word program was applied for precise counting of RD. The mean RD differences between left and right hands, boys and girls, radial and ulnar areas were statistically tested. The likelihood ratio was computed to obtain the probability inferences of sex, and posterior probabilities were estimated using Bayes’ theorem. Results revealed as follows: (1) The mean RDs (ridges per 25 mm2) of boys and girls were not significantly different across the radial (15.89 vs. 16.19, respectively) and ulnar areas (15.84 vs. 16.00, respectively). For each sex, mean RDs in the radial and the ulnar were not statistically different. (2) The mean RDs in both sexes were greater in the left hand fingers compared to the right hand, and were statistically significant only in girls. (3) For the ulnar area, the RD of 13 or less is most likely to be of from male origin and that of 17 or more has a low probability of being of female origin. Comparing the radial area, an RD of 14 or less has a low probability of being of male origin while a weak probability of the RD of 17 or more is most likely being of female origin.